It's believed this vehicle is a development car for the upcoming GT variant of the Euro-market Kia Ceed, powered by the same 150kW/265Nm 1.6-litre turbo has the related Hyundai i30 SR.

These new images come shortly after the single rear shot of a more powerful Cerato GT sedan also surfaced online this week, with both the Ceed and Cerato prototypes wearing Korean test vehicle registration plates – determined by the two red stripes across the plates.

Considering the standard Ceed was shown at the Geneva motor show in March, it's likely the GT version will make its debut at the Paris motor show in October, or slightly before that.

The new Kia Ceed (below) goes on sale in Europe during the second quarter of 2018, and will be joined by the Ceed Sportswagon in the coming months.

Australia

Kia's local division has already confirmed the Cerato sedan will arrive around mid-2018. A hatchback version, meanwhile, is scheduled to arrive before the end of the year – though we're still yet to see a Cerato- or K3- badged hatchback at this point.

It's believed the Cerato hatchback will be a version of the Ceed, though how closely the two vehicles will be related in terms of looks and cabin trims is yet to be seen.

Stay tuned to CarAdvice for all the latest updates in the coming months.